Question

read the excerpt from the code book. by this stage, sending a pgp encrypted message is becoming quite complicated. the idea cipher is being used to encrypt the message, rsa is being used to encrypt the idea key, and another stage of encryption has to be incorporated if a digital signature is required. however, zimmermann developed his product in such a way that it would do everything automatically, so that alice and bob would not have to worry about the mathematics. to send a message to bob, alice would simply write her e - mail and select the pgp option from a menu on her computer screen. next she would type in bobs name, then pgp would find bobs public key and automatically perform all the encryption. at the same time pgp would do the necessary jiggery - pokery required to digitally sign the message. upon receiving the encrypted message, bob would select the pgp option, and pgp would decrypt the message. which sentence is most relevant to the argument that zimmermann’s pgp was easy to use? 1. by this stage, sending a pgp encrypted message is becoming quite complicated 2. the idea cipher is being used to encrypt the message, rsa is being used to encrypt the idea key, and another stage of encryption has to be incorporated if a digital signature is required 3. to send a message to bob, alice would simply write her e - mail and select the pgp option from a menu on her computer screen 4. nothing in pgp was original—diffie and hellman had already thought of digital signatures and other cryptographers had used a combination of symmetric and asymmetric ciphers to speed up encryption

Explanation:

To determine which sentence supports the argument that Zimmermann’s PGP was easy to use, we analyze each option:

• The first option states sending a PGP - encrypted message was complicated, which goes against the argument.
• The second option describes the complex encryption process, not the ease of use.
• The third option shows that Alice can simply write an email, select the PGP option, and type in Bob's name, with PGP handling the rest. This clearly demonstrates the ease of using PGP.
• The fourth option is about the originality of PGP's features, not its ease of use.

Answer:

C. To send a message to Bob, Alice would simply write her e - mail and select the PGP option from a menu on her computer screen